The Universal and Life-Giving Path: Part One

Introduction:

The term “chasid” appears
in our Sacred Scriptures, and it
refers to someone who serves the
Creator with devotion and love.
The term “chassidei umos
ha'olam” refers to those
among the nations who serve the
Creator with devotion and love.
Our sages state:

“Chassidei umos ha'olam
have a share in the World to
Come.” (Tosefta – Sanhedrin
13:1)

Dear Friends,

Although the Torah has a
specific path for the People of
Israel which prepares them for
their universal role and leads
them to eternal life in the
World to Come, the Torah also
has a path for the peoples of
the earth which leads them to
eternal Life in the World to
Come. This path contains seven
basic mitzvos – Divine mandates
– which are known as the “Seven
Mitzvos of the Children of
Noah.” In this letter, we shall
cite a source which states that
these seven mitzvos are actually
seven categories of mitzvos
which contain many specific
mitzvos. In the next letter, we
hope to discuss sources which
state that there are other
mitzvos which all human beings
must fulfill, in addition to the
seven basic mitzvos.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 56b)
states that the seven basic
mitzvos were first taught to
humanity at the very dawn of
human history, beginning with
Adam and Eve; however, these
Divine mandates were reaffirmed
during the generation of Noah,
after the flood, and they
therefore became known as the
“Seven Mitzvos of the Children
of Noah.” They include:

1. the mandate to establish
courts of justice
2. the prohibition against
cursing the sacred Divine Name
3. the prohibition against
idolatry – the deification of
any object, creature, human
being, or power other than the
One Creator of the Universe
4. the prohibition against
murder – including the murder of
one’s self
5. the prohibition against
immoral sexual relations
6. the prohibition against theft
7. the prohibition against
eating a limb severed from a
living animal

According to Ramban
(Nachmanides), the mitzvah to
establish courts of justice also
includes the obligation to
establish laws regulating all
civil matters such as damages,
business regulations, labor
laws, etc, in order to establish
a just society. The mitzvah to
establish courts of justice is
therefore a general mitzvah
which includes many particular
mitzvos.

According to the “Sefer
Ha-Chinuch” – a classical work
on the Torah’s mitzvos – the
seven basic mitzvos are actually
seven “categories” of mitzvos
which include many of the 613
particular mitzvos which are
incumbent upon the People of
Israel. This explanation is
found in the following comments
of the Sefer Ha-Chinuch
regarding the 416th mitzvah –
the prohibition, “You shall not
covet” (Deuteronomy 5:18):

“This prohibition applies at all
times, in all places, to both
men and women, and to all human
beings. This is so because it is
part of the prohibition against
stealing, which is one of the
Seven Mitzvos that all human
beings are to observe. Make no
mistake concerning the
enumeration of the Seven Mitzvos
of the Children of Noah – these
being well-known and recorded in
the Talmud – for they are but
categories, and they contain
many particulars.”

The Sefer Ha-Chinuch points out
that since the Children of Noah
were adjured about stealing,
they were equally adjured about
all Torah decrees to keep a
person far away from stealing,
such as the decree, “You shall
not covet.”

Regarding a human being who
properly fulfills the Seven
Mitzvos, Maimonides writes:

“Anyone who accepts upon himself
the fulfillment of these Seven
Mitzvos and is precise in their
observance is considered one of
the chassidei umos ha'olam,
and he has a share in the World
to Come.” (Mishneh Torah: The
Laws of Kings 8:11)

Maimonides adds that in order to
be considered one of the
chassidei umos ha'olam, “one
must accept and fulfill these
Seven Mitzvos because the Holy
One, Blessed is He, commanded
them in the Torah and informed
us through Moshe, our Teacher,
that even previously, Noah’s
descendants were commanded to
fulfill them” (ibid). In other
words, the Seven Mitzvos were
reaffirmed at Mount Sinai; thus,
chassidei umos ha'olam
are to recognize that the
Revelation at Mount Sinai
includes a universal path for
all humankind.

The Talmud teaches that a
Gentile who studies the Torah in
order to understand and fulfill
this universal path “is like a
Kohen Gadol - a High
Priest” (Sanhedrin 59a). A noted
commentator on the Talmud,
Meiri, explains that the Talmud
is calling on us to honor such a
person as we would honor a
Kohen Gadol. In this spirit,
we find the following teaching
regarding a Gentile who is
diligent in his fulfillment of
the laws and principles of the
Seven Mitzvos:

“Honor him more than you would a
Jew who is not involved in the
study of Torah” (Sefer
Chassidim, 358).

Meiri, in his commentary cited
above, adds that most of the
principles of the Torah are
contained within the Seven
Mitzvos. The Meiri does not
elaborate, but if we examine any
of the Seven Mitzvos, we can
discover basic Torah principles.
For example, within the
prohibition of idolatry, we can
find not only the concept of the
Unity of the Creator, but also
the related concept of the unity
of creation. For the deification
of any fragment of creation –
whether it be an aspect of
nature, a human being, a nation,
or humanity itself – can cause
human beings to lose their
consciousness of the unity and
common origin of all creation.
Rabbi Avraham Yaffen, a noted
teacher of Jewish ethics in the
early 20th century, elaborates
on this idea in an essay that he
wrote about our father, Avraham,
and his unifying role. Rabbi
Yaffen points out that it was
precisely Avraham, who dedicated
his life to acts of
lovingkindness, who also
dedicated his life to the
negation of idolatry. Rabbi
Yaffen adds that when Avraham
would see the people of his
generation fighting with each
other, and how each would offer
sacrifices to his own god in
order to try to gain support in
his struggle against his
neighbor, Avraham would teach
them that, on the contrary,
“each should help his neighbor,
for one God created them and
desires the honor of all of
them.” (Mishel Avos - An
anthology of Commentaries on
Pirkei Avos, p. 144)

If we examine the prohibition
against eating a limb severed
from a living animal, we can
find other Torah principles. For
example, a basic principle of
the Torah is that the human
being is created in the Divine
image with the capacity and
responsibility to emulate the
Divine compassion and concern
for all forms of life. Eating a
limb from a living animal is a
brutal and cruel act which goes
against this basic principle.
(This cruel act was more common
in the ancient world, but it
still practiced in certain parts
of the world today.) The
prohibition against this cruel
act is also included among the
613 mitzvos which were given to
the People of Israel. The Sefer
Ha-Chinuch discusses this
prohibition, and it states:

"A root principle of this
mitzvah is that we should not
train our spirit in the quality
of cruelty, which is a most
reprehensible trait of
character.” (#452)

Another Torah principle included
in this prohibition is the
awareness that the human being
is not the owner of the earth
and its creatures, for the human
being is only the custodian (see
Genesis 2:15). The human being
therefore has no right to
cruelly exploit other living
creatures for his immediate
gratification. This is why the
Torah has a number of mitzvos
which obligate us to show
concern and consideration for
the feelings and instincts of
animals. We discussed these
mitzvos in our previous series –
“Relating to Other Creatures” –
which appears in the archive on
our website.

What Torah principles are
contained within the prohibition
against cursing the sacred
Divine Name? I would like to
suggest that this prohibition
reminds the human being to
respect and revere the Divine
Source of all life, truth, and
wisdom. This reverence is a
basic principle of the Torah, as
without this reverence, the
human being becomes an arrogant
creature that exploits and
damages the world. This is why
the Prophet states that before
the arrival of the messianic age
of enlightenment, “Humankind’s
haughtiness will be humbled”
(Isaiah 2:17).
A related Torah principle is
that all creation stems from the
One Creator; thus, respect and
reverence for the Creator can
lead to respect and reverence
for the Divine creation.

Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See
below)

Related Teachings:

1. In Letter 120 of this series,
we discussed how the Kohen Gadol
– High Priest – represents the
eternal life of the first human
being in the Garden. A Gentile
who follows the universal path
of the Torah connects to this
eternal life. We therefore
suggested that this may be a
reason why our sages compare
this righteous Gentile to the
Kohen Gadol.

2. During the messianic age,
each people will maintain its
basic identity and culture, but
will dedicate this culture to
fulfilling the life-giving
mandates of the Compassionate
One. As Rabbi Samson Raphael
Hirsch writes in his commentary
to Psalm 24:6:

“Each nation may still retain
its own characteristics and
peculiarities, but must always
use them and the way of life
based upon them only in
conformity with the supreme
Divine moral Law.”